Have All The Beatles Performed On The GRAMMYs?

The 56th GRAMMY Awards may be over, but The Recording Academy has another show in store. On Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT The Academy, AEG Ehrlich Ventures and CBS, will present "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A GRAMMY Salute" featuring performances from some of the top artists of today … and yesterday. Before the Beatles are saluted on Sunday, we reveal a little piece of Fab Four GRAMMY history in our latest installment of Ask The GRAMMYs.

Hello — I am a huge Beatles fan and I loved seeing Paul and Ringo together again on the GRAMMY stage performing "Queenie Eye." But I'm wondering if John Lennon and George Harrison ever appeared on the GRAMMY stage before they died? — Brian E.

Hi, Brian. Thank you for your question; we enjoyed that performance as much as you did.

To answer your question, George Harrison remains (unfortunately) the only Beatle never to have graced the GRAMMY stage. He did appear alongside the Beatles in 1965 in a pre-recorded acceptance speech for their Best New Artist GRAMMY (along with comedian Peter Sellers, who presented the award to the band as a "Grandma Award"). And that's where the Beatles rich GRAMMY history begins.

Paul McCartney was the first Beatle to take the GRAMMY stage when he accepted the award for Let It Be at the 13th Annual GRAMMY Awards in 1971. Ringo Starr followed in 1973 when he appeared to present the award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male with Harry Nilsson. In 1975 John Lennon, along with Paul Simon, appeared to present the Record Of The Year GRAMMY to Olivia Newton-John for "I Honestly Love You," but Lennon never performed on the telecast.

Prior to the 56th GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 26 when McCartney and Starr performed "Queenie Eye" and Starr performed his chestnut "Photograph," McCartney remained the only Beatle to perform on the GRAMMY stage and Starr led the pack with the most appearances on the show without performing. Today, McCartney holds the distinction as the Beatle with the most performances on the GRAMMY stage.

We hope this answers your question. Sadly, Lennon and Harrison will never get an opportunity to perform on the GRAMMY stage (at least not without the help of holograms). But there is a silver lining.

You can join us in celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" with our two-and-a-half-hour special on Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A GRAMMY Salute" will celebrate the legacy of the seven-time GRAMMY-winning group with performances you won't want to miss, and the special will air exactly 50 years to the day, date and time of the original broadcast. And you just might get the chance to see Paul and Ringo performing together again.

(Have a specific GRAMMY Awards process question? Need the 411 on The Recording Academy's advocacy-related work in Washington? Are you curious about MusiCares or the GRAMMY Foundation? Ask The GRAMMYs is your opportunity. Send your burning GRAMMY-related question via email to askthegrammys@grammy.com.)

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